


I'll See You Again

by investigate_wellington



Series: This Side or the Other [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Barebacking, Blow Jobs, Felching, Light Bondage, M/M, Masturbation, Past Abuse, Recreational Drug Use, Rimming, Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-14 19:21:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4576710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/investigate_wellington/pseuds/investigate_wellington
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson leads a band of ruthless bank robbers and has no real attachments. Everything changes for him when they briefly take a hostage while robbing a bank. Bank employee named Harry Styles. Learning that he lives in the neighborhood, Louis seeks him out to discover what he knows, and he falls in love. As the romance deepens, he wants out of his criminal life, but that could threaten Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Robbery

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is actually my second time posting this fic and I deleted part of it the first time because I wanted to have more done before I went around posting it. This time I have more done and I plan to stick with this story. Also, I don't have a beta so all my mistakes are my own and I apologize for that.
> 
> This fic is based off the movie The Town, so I don't own the plot or the characters. Please remember this is fiction and in no way meant to represent anyone in real life, etc etc etc.

> I'm proud to be from Charlestown. It ruined my life, literally, but I'm proud.
> 
> \- Charleston Man, _Boston Globe_

Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, and Louis has lived there his entire life. Twenty-five full years. He often finds himself just drifting among the sea of people, taking one day at a time. Doing odd jobs, here and there. Sometimes even finding himself in illegal situations. This is how he supposes he ends up here today in one of the busiest banks in Charlestown getting ready to rob it with Zayn and Liam.

He met Zayn and Liam in elementary school. On the first day he walked into the building, absolutely dreading to be there. He was so young at the time and his mother had just left. She just disappeared. He had lived with his father up until the point he got sent to prison, but now it's just him and his grandparents. He went to his assigned locker, putting his backpack, books, and other materials into it. The flutter of voices filled the halls of the school. Kids chattering away about what exciting things they did that summer.

It was Louis’ first year there at this new school and he hadn’t made any friends yet. He spent his entire summer working for his grandfather in his flower shop. He was young and couldn't do too much, but it was still fun for him. Helping out with weddings, graduation parties, birthday parties and all types of celebrations. His grandparents lived in a tiny two bedroom apartment above the store. And in that summer he had grown to appreciate flowers. He had also realized that he liked taking care of things, even people. He liked feeling needed. Flowers cannot survive on their own, his grandfather told him multiple times.

Sadly right before Louis’ eighteenth birthday his grandparents were in a horrible car accident that killed them both. He remembers getting a call from his grandfather’s best friend Al, who helped out in the shop from time to time. Louis never trusted him from the start, something always felt off. But in the end the shop was left to Al and Louis. After they died Louis decided that he didn’t like flowers much anymore, and that he didn’t want to help Al run the store. Every day when he woke up though, he would smell the flowers from the shop below, and it would hurt. Memories flooded back, along with tears.

Zayn and Liam were there for him when they died. Those two guys were his rock, so to speak. They also were a packaged deal, considering they were a couple. Wherever one went, the other followed. The first few months were hard on him. Louis isolated himself, wouldn’t come out of the apartment for days. At one point he even begged Al to close the shop completely. Louis wanted to close the business and it was his way of pretending his grandparents never existed. He thought it would be easier that way. To delete them from his life completely. But Zayn and Liam taught him that even though Louis thought that was the easiest way, it wasn’t. Someday the pain would come seeping back in, and no matter how many flowers he tore up, threw out, the smell of those flowers would never leave that shop.

Zayn and Liam often brought him food, to make sure he was eating. Practically had to drag him into the shower just so he could bathe. And after he came out of this funk with the help of Zayn and Liam, he got a tattoo on his left pec in remembrance of them. 78 was the number in the address of the flower shop. It meant a lot to him at the time, and it still does. But now his body is littered with tattoos, mostly random things. He’s proud of them though.

And now at twenty-five, he’s robbing banks with Zayn and Liam as his sidekicks. They’ve robbed some smaller banks, and they have worked their way up. How he got here with them he would have to say Al played a major part in that. Even though Al co-owns the flower shop with Louis, he also does work on the side. That’s when Louis found out that his instincts were right about Al. He was a thief, that worked and helped rob most banks in Boston. Al approached Louis, Zayn and Liam one night after the shop closed. Made an offer they couldn’t refuse. If they helped rob these banks, they would get a portion of the money. Not a big one, but still. They were young and dumb and had nothing to lose. They had no interest in going to college. This was just before they graduated high school.

So here they are, years later. Dressed in all black, faces covered with Halloween masks, carrying assault rifles, attempting to rob this bank. Louis storms in, Zayn and Liam trailing not far behind. Louis starts shouting, “Everyone get down on the ground! Now!” As soon as the bank employees and customers inside the building realize what’s happening, panic spreads across their faces. As Louis stands there, watching everyone slowing get down on the ground, Liam is locking the front doors to the bank with chains, so no one can get in or out without a fight. Zayn has now grabbed a fishbowl off the counter and dumped out the free suckers and is yelling at the customers and employees to give up their phones.

Louis knows they’re running out of time and have to be quick about this. Get in and get out. He starts looking around, assessing the situation at hand and becoming aware of his surroundings. At this point Zayn has jumped across the counter and goes into the monitor room to start disposing and destroying all the video evidence. Liam is pacing back and forth, keeping watch while Louis then starts searching for a bank employee to help open the main vault.

Louis’ eyes land on a young man, who is lying face down on the ground with his hands covering his head. “You!” He shouts. The young man looks up into Louis’ eyes and all he can see is green, green and some more green with loads of fear. He instantly feels a pang of guilt for making this beautiful boy scared. But he doesn’t have time for guilt.

“Me?” The young man asks.

“Yeah, you work here, right? Open the vault!” He points to the vault with his right hand and the assault rifle pointed down towards the ground in his left.

He stands up shakily on his long legs that Louis thinks are absolutely exquisite. The young man brushes a piece of hair out of his face quickly and Louis now notices that his hair is pulled back in a bun. A quite nice one, to be exact. He walks over to the vault and Louis can literally feel the anxiety rolling off of him. He reads his name tag. _Harry._

Louis starts speaking, “When can you open the vault?” The vaults are on timers, and can only be opened during a specific time frame. “Uh, uh... 9:00,” he stutters. Louis knows that’s a lie. He’s done his research on this bank; he knows it’s eligible to be opened at 8:15. He glances at the clock. It’s almost 8:15. Just in time, he thinks. “Don’t lie to me. Open it.” He states firmly, which sends shivers down this Harry’s spine. Louis can start to see goose bumps forming on his arms. He’s scared. And with shaky hands he tries to open the vault and starts to spin the dial. He takes a deep breath, but it’s no use because his hands are still too shaky and sweaty, his fingers are slipping.

Liam starts yelling, “What’s taking so long?! We’re running out of time!” Louis knows Liam is starting to get agitated. This makes Harry even more nervous and he lets out a whine that only Louis can hear. Louis then puts his hand over Harry’s and looks at him through the mask. Harry can’t see him but Louis can, and he thinks Harry is probably the most beautiful boy he’s ever seen. He tries to get his voice as calm as he possibly can in a situation like this and speaks to Harry, “Take your time. We’re not going to hurt you.” This seems to calm Harry down immensely as Louis can see the tension release from his shoulders. Louis lets go of Harry’s hand and realizes that he is actually much smaller than this boy, despite being older. His hands are much larger, shoulders broader, and definitely taller. Louis glances at the clock. They’ve maybe been in here for two minutes but it feels like a lifetime. The vault clicks open. “We’re in!” Louis shouts.

Zayn then rounds the corner, pushing Harry out of the way. He falls to the ground. “It’s about time, let’s go!” Louis didn’t like that Zayn pushed Harry but he absolutely does not have time for that. Zayn and Louis enter the vault with the duffle bags they brought, opening up safety deposit boxes with the keys Zayn grabbed from the bank manager. Grabbing what they can with the time they have. They’re not in there long when Liam starts yelling. “Boys, we gotta go! Someone pressed the alarm! Cops are on their way!”

“Fuck!” Zayn sighs and then whispers, “Lou, grab what you can. Thirty seconds and then we’re out of here.” He nods and gets back to grabbing what he can. A couple of seconds later he hears a commotion out in the lobby. People yelling, “Stop!” along with a few women crying. He walks out of the vault and sees Zayn hitting this guy’s head with the end of his gun, blood dripping from the wound Zayn created. “What are you doing?!” Louis shouts with disbelief. This wasn’t part of the plan, hurting anyone. Louis may be into this for the adrenaline rush but he has no interest in hurting people in the process. This is also when he realizes Liam has blindfolded Harry and is tying his hands behind his back.

“So we’re taking hostages now?” Louis asks. Zayn and Liam both ignore him. Louis does not have time for this. This wasn’t part of the plan at all. But they have to leave now as he can hear the police sirens. Liam speaks, “I think we’re good to go.” They all exit through the back of the bank with Harry in tow. Louis takes Harry’s hands away from Liam and falls back a bit and whispers in Harry’s ear, “Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt you.” Louis can tell this eases Harry a bit again, liking the effect he has him. Louis also realizes the tears that are beginning to get the blindfold and stream down Harry’s cheeks. Louis does feel bad about this, considering it was not part of the plan and not even knowing what they’re going to do with him.

They exit the bank, where Nick and Ben are waiting in the getaway vehicle. Zayn jumps in the passenger seat, while Liam, Harry and Louis get into the back alongside Ben. Harry’s in the middle smashed between Liam and Louis with Ben in the way back listening to the police scanner. Everyone takes off their masks and drive off just in time before the police get here.

* * *

 

Harry’s always hated police stations. They’re so dull and depressing just like hospitals. Cold and emotionless, he thinks as he sits there with his head in his hands. He can’t believe the day he’s had and just wants to go home and curl up in bed with some hot coco and his cat. He sighs deeply.

The door opens and in walks an older man dressed up in an expensive suit. Harry can tell. The man starts speaking before Harry can finish his thoughts. “Hello Harry, I’m detective Cowell with the FBI. But you can call me Simon.” He holds out his hand. Harry is hesitant to shake it but does anyway. The detective then sits down across from Harry at the table and he realizes that this must be pretty serious if the FBI is involved.

“You said you’re from the FBI?” Harry asks. Simon nods and starts talking. “We believe the bank robbers that took you hostage today have been the same bank robbers that have robbed numerous banks throughout Boston in the last five years. Whatever information you can tell me about what happened today will be very helpful.” He looks at Harry sympathetically. Harry decides he hates it.

“Just start from the beginning.” Simon says as he’s shuffling through some papers and gets out a notepad for notes. Harry’s stomach churns. He really doesn’t want to relive this experience, but then again he needs to because these men deserve to rot in prison for what they did. Even with the man who kept him calm throughout the ordeal, still robbed a bank for fucks sake. He genuinely thought he might die today.

So, Harry starts from the beginning. “It was just a normal morning, people coming in and out with routine questions and transactions. Then a few minutes before 8:15 is when the three men came barging in. They yelled and demanded everyone get on the ground and give up their cell phones.”

Simon interrupts. “What were they wearing?” Harry rubs his hands over his face and breathes out. “Uh, all black. Black sweatshirts, black jeans, boots. And they had… Like, Halloween masks on. Like a skeleton mask. All three of them.” A few moments pass before Harry starts talking again. “One locked the doors with chains, as the other one when into the monitor room to try and destroy the recordings of the cameras, which I think they might have failed at because we have our backup system.”

Simon nodded and then asked, “And then the other one?” The other one. The one that was calm and patient with Harry. “He choose me to open the vault. When he noticed that I was nervous, he talked me through opening the vault, trying to calm me down, etc. And when I was taken hostage he reassured me I was going to be okay.” Harry shrugs and looks at Simon as Simon’s eyebrows shoot up.

Simon starts speaking again. “Did you see any tattoos, scars, any psychical characteristics that would stand out?” Harry closes his eyes and thinks for a moment. Before he was blindfolded he did noticed a tattoo on the back of one of their necks. “Yes, yes I did actually. One of guys had a tattoo on the back of his neck. It almost looked like a feather. But I couldn’t tell fully because of his t-shirt. So I only saw a part of it.”

Simon is simultaneously taking notes and talking to him at the same time. “Good, Harry, that’s good.” A few more moments pass and Harry tells Simon the rest of the story. His hands start to shake again and tears threaten to spill out of his eyes, but he holds back. He will wait until he gets home to break down.

“They just let you go?” Simon questions. “Yes.” Harry pauses slightly, wondering why Simon is acting as if he is lying. “They did, they really just let me go. They drove around town for a bit, then dropped me off at the beach near the harbor. Told me to keep walking until I felt water.” He lets out in deep sigh, remembering how scared he was in that moment. “Am I going to need a lawyer or something? Am I in trouble?”

Simon starts gathering his notes and files together. “No, you’re not in trouble and I think you’ll be alright.” Harry nods in responses and runs his hand through his hair. The bun that he had it in fell out in the process of being kidnapped.

Simon then looks at him with pity, which Harry absolutely seethes over, and says to him, “You know, with matter like these, after experiencing something like this, sometimes people will suffer with slight PTSD. I can refer you to a counselor if you think it will help, talking to someone.” Harry hates being the victim. “No.” He shakes his head. “I just want to go home.”

Simon nods. “Okay, you’re good to go. We’ll keep in touch.” And just like that Simon stands up and leaves. And Harry is left alone in the room. Hit sits there for a few more minutes, maybe more, he can’t really tell… Just thinking back on today, wondering why the hell he ever wanted to work in a bank in a city filled with criminals.

He eventually gets up on wobbly legs, grabs his messenger bag, which the police so kindly returned back to him from the bank, and makes his way home. It’s the middle of the day on a Thursday but when Harry gets home the first thing he does is feed Shadow, his cat, and sleep until the next morning.

When Harry does awake the next morning it’s because Shadow is purring and rubbing his whole body over Harry’s face. Harry is okay with this. When he first moved to Boston, he became acquainted with Shadow while moving into his apartment building. He was obviously a stray, very skinny, ratty looking. But Harry always did have a thing for helping out an animal in need. He was also starting over in a new city, so why not get adopt a new cat as well? They’ve been inseparable ever since.

“Hey buddy,” he greets Shadow, running his fingers over his back. Shadow plops down right in front of Harry’s face and stares for a second, then meows. “Are you seriously hungry again?” Harry groans, rolls over away from Shadow’s prying eyes, trying to cherish the warmth and comfort he gets by being in bed. He wouldn’t call himself lazy by any means, but laid back. And reserved. Harry would much rather stay in, cook, and spend time with his cat than go out. Although Niall does like to drag him out to pubs once in awhile. Speaking of Niall, he should text him and invite him over. Fill him in on everything that’s happened since yesterday. His stomach drops, and his palms start to sweat. He wants to forget everything that happened yesterday.

Throwing the blankets off of himself, he sits up and stretches and yawns. The clock reads just before 9:00 am. He’s definitely going to have to make a pot of coffee if plans on having Niall. For a peace offering of course, since Niall doesn’t like to be awake before noon.

His feet hit the cold hardwood floor and he shivers, goose bumps rising immediately on his skin. Walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth, he looks into the mirror. The bun currently in his hair is lopsided, strands of his curly hair falling to the side of his head. He looks at his face. He looks tired, definitely looks like he just went through some sort of traumatic event. Great, he thinks.

He fixes his bun and walks to the kitchen to start the pot of coffee. Better make it stronger than usual just in case Niall is feeling extra cranky today. Waiting for the pot of coffee to brew, he finally feeds Shadow, who has been following him around all morning.

Reaching for his phone in his messenger bag, he knocks the whole thing over and out comes his phone, wallet, and some papers from the bank he can’t forget to file when he gets back on Monday. He grabs the papers, gets them back in order and puts them back in his bag. He looks down at his wallet, but it’s missing something. His driver’s license.

If things could get any worse, this is it. Tears flood his eyes, for the hundredth time it seems in the last twenty-four hours. The robbers must have taken it when they had him blindfolded and held hostage. Fuck, he thinks. His mind is going a million miles per hour but he feels frozen to the ground. Somehow he finds the strength the move a few seconds later, scrambling papers and mail on the island in the kitchen looking for Simon’s phone number. He needs to tell him that they took his license, which means they know his name, where he lives. He’s never felt so screwed in his life.

He finally finds the card and calls it. The phone rings, rings and rings, when Simon finally picks up. “Detective Cowell speaking, how may I help you?”

“Detective Cowell. It’s Harry, from last night. Do you remember me?”

“Yes I do, what can I help you with?”

Harry lets out a shaky breath. “This morning when I went through my wallet I realized my driver’s license was missing. I think they took it, which means they know where I live. What if they come after me? Take me hostage again? I can only take so much before I--” Simon interrupts him.

“Harry, calm down. Are you sure they took it and you didn’t just misplace it?”

“I’m sure. Please tell me you can do something about this.”

“I’ll send a squad car to sit in front of your apartment if you’d like me to. Just to keep an eye on things. Unfortunately there’s not much else I can do. Although, if they wanted to hurt you they probably would have done it already.”

That doesn’t really make Harry feel better. “Reassuring,” he says sarcastically. “I would like it if you sent someone over though.”

Simon doesn’t hesitate to start speaking again. “I’m on it. I have to go Harry, but we’ll stay in touch. Call me if you need anything else.”

Harry sighs deeply, already wanting the day to end and he just woke up. “Alright, bye.” He ends the call.

Walking over to the other side of his kitchen he pours himself and Niall a cup of coffee. He almost dumps out the coffee and crawls back into bed. Harry is good at avoiding the problems in his life at all costs. But he can’t do that. He knows if he does that he’ll drift away from everyone and that didn’t end well last time. He picks up his phone to call Niall and within the next few minutes a grumpy Niall walks through the door wrapped up in a blanket, hair messed up, gracefully taking the cup of coffee Harry is handing to him. Niall is his neighbor, and he’s thankful for that.

“Why am I here so early?” Niall grumbles as he sits down at a barstool against the island in the kitchen.

Harry sighs and wipes his sweaty palms on his sweatpants he threw on earlier. “Have you watched the news at all?” Harry doesn’t know why he asks, he already knows the answer.

“Fuck Harry, you know I don’t watch the news.” He chuckles a little. “Why? Why are you being so strange this morning?” Niall looks at Harry’s face and knows something is wrong.

“Something happened at work yesterday.” Harry looks down at his hands and plays with them. He always does then when he’s nervous. He’s not necessarily nervous about telling Niall, because Niall is the best friend he’s ever had and Harry knows he’ll be there for him in any way he can. He mostly just doesn’t want to relive the experience again.

He finally just blurts it out. “The bank was robbed yesterday and…” He trails off a bit. “And I was taken hostage.”

Niall slams his coffee cup on the island just a little too hard where some coffee spills over the side. “What?! Harry—are you okay? Jesus Christ.” He gets off the stool and walks over to Harry and immediately wraps his arms around him, knowing Harry will need it.

“Why the hell didn’t you call me when you got home? When did it even happen? What did they do? You’re okay, right?” Niall keeps rattling off questions as he’s still holding Harry tightly.

“I’m fine, Niall. I just would rather not talk about it. Just know that I’m okay.” He squeezes Niall.

Niall separates himself from Harry, but still running his hands down Harry’s arms, reassuring him. “Did the cops at least catch them?”

Harry shakes his head no. “And they took my license, so they know where I live.” Niall’s face turns from worry into anger. “You can never catch a break, can you?”

“Apparently not. But I’ve been talking to the FBI and one of the detectives said he will have a squad car sent over to keep an eye on my apartment.”

“The FBI?” Niall sounds surprised.

“It’s not the first time these men have hit banks in the area. So yes, the FBI.”

“Well H, I’ll be staying with you here for the weekend. I know how much you loathe me trashing your place, but I miss hanging out with you and we’ll have a proper guys weekend. How does that sound?” Harry knows Niall is trying to cheer him up and get everything off his mind.

“That’s a good idea. I’d rather not be alone this weekend.” Harry gives Niall a hopeful smile. “Just… don’t trash my place too much.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Niall says teasingly. “I’ll be back, just gonna grab some clothes from upstairs.”

Harry nods while Niall exits. He’s still standing in the middle of the kitchen with tear stained cheeks when Shadow rubs up against his leg. “Hey buddy.” He picks Shadow up and Shadow purrs and curls into Harry.

Harry guesses it’s going to be a long weekend.

* * *

 

That same morning Louis wakes up to the sun shining through his bedroom window and the faint smell of flowers wafting up through the vents. He loves waking up to that smell. He rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling, thinking back to yesterday. Yesterday was thrilling, that’s for sure. But he can’t help that his mind keeps going back to a certain someone. A certain someone who he shouldn’t be thinking about whatsoever. There was something about him though, that Louis liked very much. He couldn’t put his finger on it yet, but he wanted to.

His thoughts were interrupted when his phone started to ring. He grabs his phone from the nightstand and sees that it’s Zayn calling.

“Hey man,” he answers.

“Be at the hockey rink in an hour.”

“What for?” Louis asks.

“Just be there, Louis,” Zayn says quickly and then the call has ended. It’s too early for Zayn’s cryptic shit. He reaches to the nightstand again and grabs his pack of cigarettes and lights one. He takes a drag, feeling the smoke fill in his lungs. He exhales the smoke out of his nose while he rubs his hand over his face. Better get dressed and get a move on. Zayn won’t like it if he’s late.

He rolls out of bed cigarette hanging off his lips, and grabs a pair of black skinny jeans off the floor along with a ratty old Vans t-shirt that smells pretty bad. He doesn’t care though.

Making his way downstairs he sees Al talking to some customers about flower arrangements for a wedding. He waves and walks out the door, not wanting to talk to Al about yesterday. He helped set up the deal, and Louis knows he’d have questions about how it went, but as of right now Louis can’t bring himself to want to face the man.

He decides he’ll walk today to the hockey rink today, it’s nice enough outside, and with fall here and winter coming soon there won’t be many days like this left. The breeze picks up and he wishes he would have brought a sweater.

He arrives a  bit early and he finds himself wishing that he would have taken the long way there. After so many years of seeing the slightly run down building, you’d think the sight of it wouldn’t make him feel so nostalgic. There’s just too many memories here. Some good, some bad. He used to play hockey. Had a full scholarship to play at a fancy college and everything, but as Louis knows firsthand, sometimes things don’t go as planned.

 He walks through the front doors, and Calvin greets him. “You’re here early.” He sounds surprised, and Louis supposes he is too. “I know.” He shrugs. “Is Zayn here?”

Calvin nods. “Yeah, he’s in the rink.” He points down the hall to the doors. It’s a Saturday morning and no one is here. Calvin’s family owns the rink and they’ve all been friends for a very long time. They basically grew up together. But there’s a reason Zayn asked Calvin to close it today.

“Oi!” Louis shouts as he walks through the door. He can see Zayn, Liam, Ben and Nick skating around on the ice. Zayn was facing away from Louis as he walked through the door so Zayn jumps at the sound of Louis’ voice.

“Lou, what the fuck?!” He spins around, looking pissed. Louis laughs.

Louis’ laugh dies down and he starts speaking again. “So why did you want me here? You lads are clearly having fun without me.” He pouts a bit, knowing it will rile Zayn up.

“Knock it off with the puppy eyes. I actually asked all of you to be here this morning because something came up that needs to be discussed between all of us, but then Grimshaw here decided we should play a little hockey.  He distracted me.” He turns around to look at Nick, glaring at him.

“Whatever Z, I know you’ve been itching to play.” Nick looks to Louis. “What about you, Tommo? You up for a game?”

Louis curls in on himself. He hasn’t played in years, and he kind of wants to keep it that way. “No mate, I’m good,” he says a little too cheerfully. He throws a fake smile at Nick and everyone in the rink knows it.

Zayn starts speaking again. “I asked all of you to be here because I think we’ve run into bit of a problem.” A few moments pass. “With yesterday, and the boy we took hostage.” Louis notices that Liam is the only one in the rink who doesn’t look concerned which means Zayn has already told him.

But Louis’ stomach flutters at the thought of the boy yesterday, but then it turns sour because Zayn said there was some type of problem.

Louis is the first one to speak up. “What kind of problem?” He crosses his arms and goes into alpha mode. He doesn’t like where this is going.

Zayn reaches into his back pocket and pulls out something small. Ben finally pipes up. “What’s that?”

Zayn sighs. “It’s the boy’s driver’s license.”

“You took it?!” Louis exclaims.

Zayn ignores Louis and Nick joins in. “So what’s the problem? Stop beating around the bush, Zayn.”

Zayn throws the license at Nick. “Just look at it and tell me if you see a fucking problem.”

Nick studies it for a second. “Shit.”

Louis’ had enough and is getting agitated with the suspense.  He storms over to Nick and rips the license out of his hands so he can look at it himself.

The first thing he notices is that the boy has very long hair, which slightly curls at the ends. He had a bun up in the bank but he very much likes his hair this way as well. He scolds himself internally and keeps looking at the license to see what Zayn is making such a big deal about. Harry Edward Styles. Born February 1st, 1994. He reads the address. “He lives three blocks away. Is that what you’re freaking out about?” Louis asks.

“He lives in our neighborhood, Louis. What if he recognizes us from the bank?” Zayn sounds genuinely worried and for as long as Louis has known him, it’s not like Zayn to feel this way.

Louis attempts to reassure him. “He won’t. You’re being paranoid, Zayn.” He looks over at Liam. “You told him the same thing, right?”

Liam shakes his head no. “I think it’s possible he could recognize us, Louis. He lives very close. I don’t like it.”

“And what do you suggest we do? I mean, we were all wearing masks, had all of our tattoos covered properly. I think you and Zayn are overreacting.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to look into it.” Nick pipes in.

“Great. Nick you can follow him for a few days, see what he’s doing. And let me know if he needs to be taken care of.” Nick nods at Zayn and reaches for the license in Louis’ hands. He’s not going to give it up so easily though.

“Wait a second here…” He looks over to Zayn and his eyebrows shoot up. “Take care of it? Like kill him, you mean?”

Zayn looks into Louis’ eyes for a few seconds without saying anything but then he breaks the silence. “Well, if he knows who we are then he’s a liability. The feds are already starting to close in on us. We don’t need him helping them, which I can guarantee he’s been talking with the FBI and the scum of the earth FBI agent Simon.” Zayn is getting more irritated by the second and it’s only making Louis feel more uneasy. “If he needs to be killed, he will be killed. That’s just the way it is Louis.” Zayn shrugs.

Louis decides in a fraction of a second that he doesn’t trust Nick to follow Harry and check up on him. He doesn’t know why he feels so strongly about this boy and he’s never even talked to him properly yet, but he knows he’s something special.

“Fine. I’ll look into it myself.” Why Louis just blurted that out he’ll never know.

“Oh, you will?” Zayn asks condescendingly. Louis knows he’s teasing. Zayn isn’t stupid and has seen the way Louis has already acted around Harry.

“I’ll start this weekend,” Louis huffs out in annoyance.

He then turns around and saunters out of the hockey rink, hearing all four of them starting to play another game of hockey.

Louis’ always been known as the outcast when it came to the four of them. He knows he’s always moody, and never up for their antics. Doesn’t mean Louis lets himself get pushed around though. He knows when to stand his ground and that’s about the only thing he likes about himself.

He walks by Calvin again at the front desk, along with Stan and just silently waves as he walks out the front doors. He lights another cigarettes and supposes he better get to work. Checking up on Harry.


	2. The Laundromat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here's the second chapter! It's kind of a short one. I just skimmed through this real quick so there could be a few mistakes and if there is I'm sorry. But enjoy!

It’s Sunday morning and Louis has been watching Harry all weekend. It sort of makes him sick, the way he’s watching him from a distance. But he doesn’t want to hurt him and Louis believes his heart is in the right place. He volunteered to do this because he doesn’t trust Nick to do it.

And he can’t believe the way Zayn has been acting. Zayn used to be a really caring person, back when they were younger. But living in Charlestown will ruin your life, and make you hard. It changes you, Louis thinks. It definitely changed him.

The only time Harry has left his apartment this weekend was go grab lunch with this blonde-haired Irish guy. His voice boomed through the streets, thick accent and all, making Harry laugh so hard he had to hold his stomach. Louis wondered if that was Harry’s boyfriend. A pang of jealous runs through his veins, but he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t even know Harry. Yet.

Louis is about to give up for the day, even though it’s only morning. He knows he should report back to Zayn and tell him Harry won’t be a problem. He was spotted outside, grabbing lunch with a friend, nothing to worry about.

Louis wants to leave, and he’s about to but he hears the apartment doors open and shut. He looks and he sees the Irish guy and Harry walk out. He has his window of his SUV rolled down, and can hear them talking but don’t understand what they’re saying. He watches them talk for a few more seconds, hug, and go their separate ways.

Harry is carrying a basket of clothes, dirty clothes Louis assumes. He’s probably going to the laundromat to wash them. This is his chance, if he wants to go through with it. He knows he shouldn’t follow him. He knows he should let him go on about his day, and live his life. But Louis can’t.

He sees Harry hop into his car, start it, and drive off. Louis starts his Tahoe and follows Harry. The laundromat isn’t very far away so they’re there in a matter of minutes. Harry turns into the parking lot and Louis decides to drive around the block again and park when Harry’s already inside.

Louis goes around the block, tries to talk himself out of doing this, knowing he’s already in over his head. He parks the SUV, and makes his way inside the building. It’s always busy on a Sunday, but Louis notices Harry over in the corner and makes his way a little closer, sitting in a chair a few washer and driers down from him.

He picks up a magazine from the end table and skims through it, trying to not look to obvious. Thirty minutes later Louis has finished the magazine he’s been reading, while periodically looking at Harry. He looks over at him now, and he’s sitting in a chair, slouched over looking like he’s fallen asleep. He’s wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, basically painted on him, a beanie, and plain gray crew neck sweater. His hair curls come out from beneath the beanie indicating he has very long hair. He’s beautiful.

But that’s definitely Louis’ cue to leave. He sets the magazine down back on the end table to his left and grabs his phone out of his pocket. He’s about to stand up and call Zayn when someone taps on his shoulder.

“Excuse me, but are you doing laundry?” It’s him. It’s Harry. He has sleepy eyes and his voice is very deep and raspy. Louis is caught off guard though.

“Huh?”

Harry rubs his eyes a bit. “It’s just that the change machine is out. I was wondering if you had any extra quarters.”

“I can’t help you, sorry.” He goes back to looking at his phone. Why was he just so rude? What’s wrong with him? Oh, maybe it’s because he’s been stalking Harry all weekend and he needs to get out of here. He wants to smack himself in the face.

Harry sounds so small when he speaks. “Okay, thanks anyway.” He goes back to folding his clothes on top of the washer. “I’ll just hang them up to dry at home.”

Louis stomach drops. He feels bad. He never feels bad about being rude to people. It’s because it’s Harry. This boy who Zayn just had to take hostage. He can’t believe this is happening.

As Harry is packing up his wet clothes he notices one of his work shirts that still has a blood stain on it. From the day of the robbery, when one of the men smashed the bank managers head in. Harry wants to cry. He can feel the tears coming. He puts his hand over his faces and breathes in deeply. He will not break down in the middle of a fucking laundromat, he tells himself.

Louis notices his internal struggle and stands up. “Hey, are you alright?”

Harry quickly wipes the tears that spilled out of his eyes. “Yeah, I’ve just had a rough week.” He gathers his clothes more quickly wanting to leave badly, not even worrying about trying to fold them anymore.

“Well, can I take you out to dinner to make up for not helping you out with the extra quarters?” He laughs lightly and so does Harry. “Maybe change your week around?” He doesn’t know why he’s asking him out on a date, because he knows he shouldn’t be doing this.

But Harry clearly is not doing well, and that’s all Louis’ fault. Yeah Zayn is the one who took him hostage but Louis feels guilty and also feels some sort of responsibility to make it better.

Harry looks very hesitant, but that doesn’t stop him from saying yes. “Sure, I guess so. I could use a night out.”

Louis smiles. “Does Wednesday night sound okay?” Harry nods while he has the biggest smile on his face. Louis even notices that Harry has one dimple, and Louis gets all warm inside because of how cute he is. “Great. Can I have your number? My name is Louis, by the way.”

“Mine’s Harry.” He blushes slightly and Louis beams because of it.

They exchange numbers. Harry leaves the laundromat feeling optimistic while Louis leaves feeling a bit sad. But also a bit happy and excited because Harry is already so perfect and lovely and he doesn’t even know him yet. He’s already in too deep and he knows it but ignores it.

He makes it back to the flower shop just before lunch. Al is talking to a few customers while Zayn and Liam make heart eyes at each other over in the corner.

Zayn sees Louis walk in and calls after him. “Hey! How did it go this weekend?”

Louis rolls his eyes before turning around. “Yeah, it’s all taken care of. He doesn’t know a thing.”

Zayn crosses his arms and his eyebrows knit together. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. One hundred percent.”

“How?”

“Because I know, Zayn!” He shouts louder than he actually planned to. Al and the customers in the flower shop turn their way. Louis ignores them though.

“He had a meltdown in the middle of a fucking laundromat today. So just trust me when I say he’s already scared and doesn’t need us doing anything more to ruin his life. Now drop it.” Louis turns away from Zayn and starts making his way up the stairs to his apartment.

“Since when did you always have a stick up your ass?!” Zayn yells back.

Louis just throws up his middle finger back toward Zayn. He doesn’t feel like arguing with him anymore. He used to like this life of crime. But now he just wants out. He doesn’t like hurting people, stalking them as if they’re prey. He never used to be a bad person.

He opens the door to his apartment and takes off his sweatshirt, all of a sudden feeling suffocated in it. He throws it on the floor not really caring where it lands. Louis is a bit of a slob.

He walks to the fridge and opens the freezer. There’s a bottle of vodka sitting there unopened. He grabs it, knowing very well he shouldn’t but starts drinking anyway.

* * *

 

Harry gets home from the laundromat and Niall is waiting for him in the kitchen. He’s on the floor playing with Shadow.

“Oh hey, I thought you had plans.”

“Yeah, but Melissa’s on call this weekend. She ditched date night with me to hang out with all those damn old people. I swear she works too much.” He shrugs. “Just thought I’d come back here to hangout, if that’s okay.”

“Of course.”

Harry starts unpacking his wet clothes and goes to hang them outside on his small balcony.

“Why are your clothes wet?”

“I didn’t bring enough change for the drier, and then the quarter machine was out of quarters.”

Niall laughs. “You have the worst luck.”

Harry makes the rest of the way onto the balcony and takes a moment to cherish the sun beating down on his face. It’s not hot today, but not too cold. It’s a perfect fall day. He keeps his eyes closed for a few more seconds and opens them again.

He wonders if he should tell Niall about the guy he met at the laundromat. Louis. Louis with beautiful blue eyes, scruff that probably hasn’t been shaved in days, and slightly messy hair that Harry would love to run his fingers through.

“Whatcha thinkin about, H? I can see the gears turnin from here.” Niall smiles as he opens the patio door and walks out onto the balcony with him.

Harry is hesitant at first but Niall is his best friend. What is he so worried about? “Well, uh—I sorta met someone at the laundromat.” Harry shrugs and pretends it’s not a big deal but then he smiles just thinking about Louis and how gorgeous he is.

“Really?! That’s good, right? Exciting. And I’ve been tellin you ya need to get laid.”

Harry scoffs. “It’s not like that. We didn’t talk long but he seems nice. We exchanged numbers and we’re going out for dinner Wednesday night.” Harry turns away from him and starts to hang his clothes over the railing. “Do you think it’s a bad idea?”

Niall sighs. “Why would it be a bad idea?”

Harry still hasn’t turned around. He’s trying to hide and he and Niall both know it. He’s not good at talking about these things.

Harry finally speaks up. “I think it could be a bad idea because you know I’m not good at relationships or dating.” He turns around. “I mean, look at what happened last time.”

Niall rolls his eyes. “Hey, your ex was a fuckin prick. He verbally abused you for a very long time with no good reason. That was never your fault.” He approaches Harry and gently grabs his arms. “You’re a good person, Harry Edward Styles. And you deserve the world. You should give this guy a shot without worrying too much about it.”

Niall hugs him quickly. “Stop over-thinking everything, and have fun.”

“Okay, fine.” He sighs and gets back to hanging his clothes over the railing of the balcony.

“What do you want for dinner? I’m feeling like we should order some Chinese takeout.”

“That’s sounds good.”

He hears Niall going back inside. Deep down Harry knows that all of the crappy things that happened in his last relationship were not his fault. Chris was just a huge arsehole and at times Harry thinks he’s now ruined. Like tainted, in a way.

He’s been working on these issues a lot. Harry knows he has to be strong for himself before he can be strong for anyone else. After everything that’s happened the past few days, with the robbery, he really wants to turn his life around. He hates working at the bank. He always has.

Maybe he’ll go back to school, maybe he’ll open his own business. That’s always what he wanted to do, anyway. He just needs something new, and change isn’t always bad. This is the moment he decides to start making changes in his life.

He goes to bed that night actually excited for the new things that will come in his life.

* * *

 

Louis wakes up the next morning with and pounding headache and someone making a bunch of noise in the kitchen.

“Who the hell is in here this early?”

“Someone’s gotta clean up after you since you apparently don’t know how to do it yourself.”

Liam. Liam is in his apartment at the fucking crack of dawn cleaning. “I do know how to clean up after myself, actually. I just choose not to.” His head is really throbbing now. “And why are you actually here though? Don’t you have a morning blow job to give to Zayn or something?”

Liam laughs thatloud and deep laugh like usual. It’s his trademark. “Already did that.”

Louis groans and rubs his hands over his face.

“I’m actually worried about you, Lou.” He walks out of the kitchen and into the living room where Louis is laying in the couch, dish towel over his shoulder and everything. Liam was always the most domestic.

“You started drinking again.”

“For some reason I don’t think that was a question.” Louis shoves a pillow over his head. He just wants to go back to sleep.

Liam pries the pillow from Louis’ fingers. “I’m serious. Why are you drinking again? Was it the fight you had with Zayn last night?” A few moments pass. “I’m not here to lecture you, I’m just… curious.”

“Grab me a glass of water and some ibuprofen and we’ll have this conversation.”

Liam sighs and does what he’s asked. Louis doesn’t really want to tell him why he drank last night or anything that’s going on with Harry, but it’s Liam. He’s always been more understanding than Zayn.

Liam comes back with three pills and a glass of water. Louis takes them gratefully. He lies back down on the couch and rubs at his temples. Liam just waits patiently and Louis is thankful for that.

“Obviously you know I volunteered to check up on Harry, see if he knows anything.” Louis opens his eyes back up and Liam is sitting on the arm of the couch, by Louis’ feet. Just listening, and waiting.

“I can assure you he doesn’t know anything, the poor kid and a fucking meltdown in the middle of the laundromat when I visited him yesterday. He’s scared, but…” Louis trails off. This is the hard part. Telling Liam that he actually likes Harry, when he shouldn’t. And yesterday Louis couldn’t keep his mouth shut and had to go and ask him out for dinner.

“But what?” Liam prompts. There is no judgment in his eyes, just curiousness.

“I might have asked him out on a date.” Louis grabs his glass of water and drinks the rest of it. He’s starting to feel awfully lightheaded even though he’s lying down.

“Louis…” Liam says disapprovingly.

“I know, Li, you don’t have to tell me! I already know I shouldn’t have done that. I just… kinda like him, I suppose.”

“But why? You hardly know him, and this could mean us getting caught by the feds if he finds out. It’s definitely not a good idea. I don’t approve.” Liam gets off the arm of the couch and walks back to the kitchen to finish the dishes.

“Are you going to tell Zayn?” Louis finally stands up and he wishes he hadn’t. He might throw up, and that wouldn’t surprise him since he almost drank the whole bottle of vodka last night.

He turns away from the sink and looks back at Louis. “You know I hate hiding things from Zayn, and if he finds out he’ll have my head.”

“He won’t find out,” Louis croaks out. His voice is getting hoarse. “He won’t find out because I won’t be going out with him because I like him. I’ll try to get more information out of him, see if he really is working with the feds.”

“That’s risky,” Liam says as he shakes his head.

“It’ll be fine…” Louis starts walking to the bathroom, he smells, feels gross and definitely needs a shower.

“I swear to God, Louis…”

Louis ignores him and shuts the bathroom door. He looks in the mirror. He looks dreadful. Older than twenty-five, that’s for sure. He grabs his toothbrush and brushes the nasty taste out of his mouth.

He strips out of his clothing and gathers them into a pile in his hands and peeks out from behind the bathroom door. “Hey Li, do my laundry since you’re here?” He laughs a bit and it hurts his head.

Liam comes storming out of the kitchen. “You’ve got to be kidding, Louis.” He looks like an angry dad getting ready to scold his kid.

“I’m not!” He shouts as he throws his dirty clothes at Liam’s face. The bathroom door is shut again and he can hear Liam cursing outside. He’s glad he has Liam.

Louis walks over to the shower, turns the shower on and waits for it to warm up. When it does he steps in and he swears it feels like heaven. The hot water envelopes him as he stands under the shower head. He rubs the water into his hair, massaging his scalp. It feels good and he wishes that someone else was doing it for him. A certain someone, but he’s not saying names.

His cock twitches in response, hardening by the second. He internally scolds himself. He will absolutely not jack off to the thought of Harry. That would just be wrong.

But Louis has no self control. So he wraps his hand around his dick, giving it a few tugs and he’s fully hard. He hasn’t had sex in months; it’s just been him and his hand. It gets a little boring and at times he’ll go to bars and pick some guys up and sleep with them.

He wonders what it would be like to have sex with Harry, to fuck him and turn him into a whimpering mess. Louis knows Harry has a deep voice but he would probably make the quietest of noises. Loving every single second of Louis taking him apart piece by piece. Taking what he’s given.

Minutes later Louis thumbs the slit on the head of his cock and that sends him over the edge. He’s coming and it’s nice, but tiring and old. He’s sick of his hand.

When he looks down to see his come washing down the shower drain, he feels disgusted with himself for what he’s done. He washes his hair and body and gets out of the shower and he pretends it never happened.

When he exits the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, Liam is getting ready to leave. “I made you some lunch. It’s sitting on the stove.”

Louis looks towards the stove. “That’s mac n cheese, Liam.”

“That’s all you had, you arse.” Liam walks over to the door. “Anyway, enjoy. I’m outta here.” He grabs the door handle and he’s about to walk out but he turns out and looks to Louis. “And your secret is safe with me.”

Louis knows he’s referring to Harry so Louis nods. And just like that, he’s gone.

He walks to the stove and scoops a bowl of the mac n cheese. He should probably text Harry then to confirm a time and a place. And ask for his address, although he already knows it. He can’t let Harry find out about that though.


	3. The Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter is complete! As always, I'm sorry if there are mistakes. Also, I hope the dialogue isn't too much in this chapter. Tons of H&L interaction!

The next few days go by in a rush, Harry tries to stay busy, dreading every day that he has to work. At night he spends his time with Niall and Melissa. They’ve been together about a year now but Harry thinks they’ll be in it for the long haul. There is something about those two that he absolutely admires. He has known Niall for a better part of ten years, and Harry hasn’t seen him look at anyone the way he looks at Melissa.

Because if anyone knows that Niall is something special, it’s definitely Harry. Niall is the most energetic, goofy person. In fact, Harry even remembers the night that Niall and Melissa met. Harry had just moved to Boston, and he went out with Niall to celebrate. It was a cold winter night, and as they were leaving the pub, Niall fell on some ice drunkenly and broke his wrist. Melissa was one of the nurses working that night in the ER. Niall flirted with her endlessly and it just went from there.

Wednesday finally comes around and Harry is nervous. His date is tonight. Louis texted him last night for his address while Harry was moving his furniture in the living room around. He had almost forgotten about the plans he made with Louis. If only he was that lucky, he thinks.

It’s not that he isn’t excited, because he is. Just a tad bit nervous, considering he hasn’t been out on a date in, well, a long time. Niall is working overtime, but Melissa is helping Harry pick out an outfit for tonight.

“Just throw on a nice shirt or a sweater and a pair of jeans, Harry!” Melissa says, giggling as she’s buried under a pile of Harry’s clothes on his bed.

Harry sighs. “I guess I am over thinking this.”

He finally decides on a pair of his black skinny jeans, which is basically the only type of jeans he owns, and a simple dark green sweater that he pulls over his head a little too quickly. He’s jittery, and anxious.

Louis did text him and tells him that they won’t be going anywhere fancy, so Harry knows he won’t be underdressed.

Harry walks out of the bathroom to find Melissa trying to sort out his clothes on his bed and put them in their proper place. They really did make a mess.

“You don’t have to do that, you know?” Melissa just shrugs. She’s too kind.

“Does my hair look okay in this headscarf?” Harry knows it looks fine, but maybe Melissa will suggest something different.

Melissa stops what she’s doing and gives him a look, head to toe. “You look gorgeous, Haz. Like always.”

Harry playfully rolls his eyes. “Thanks Mel.”

She’s just about done hanging up the rest of Harry’s clothes when he gets a text from Louis.

_I’m here._

His stomach drops in excitement and giddiness. “He’s here!” Harry shouts to Melissa who is still in the closet.

He slips on his coat just as Melissa walks out of his bedroom. Harry leads the way and they both exit. He’s locking his apartment door when Melissa gives him a tight squeeze around his back.

“You’re gonna be fine. Knock him dead.”

Harry giggles. “I’ll try.”

They both part ways and Harry starts to make his way downstairs.

* * *

 

Louis’ on his way over to Harry’s. He’s dressed in his normal clothes, nothing too special. His favorite pair of Vans, black skinny jeans, Harley-Davidson t-shirt and a denim jacket.

He’s oddly calm on the outside despite how his mind is going a million miles per hour.  He can’t fuck this up. He can’t like Harry too much. But deep down he knows it’s too late, so he just pushes the feeling down further, hoping it’ll just go away.

The drive there doesn’t take long, but Louis’ shaking as he parks his vehicle outside Harry’s apartment. He grabs his phone and texts him a simple _I’m here._

He lights a cigarette and waits for Harry. He just needs to keep his hands and mind occupied until he gets down here. He leans his head back, closes his eyes and takes a drag. He just wants to get tonight done and over with. He’s going to break down Harry's walls to see what he knows, and when he finds out, that’s the end of this. Another date can't happen again.

Within minutes Harry’s outside and Louis takes one more puff out of his cigarette and puts it out. He steps out of the SUV and smiles brightly up at Harry and he thinks Harry smiling back at him should make him freak out more, but it doesn’t. It calms him a bit. He’s wearing some type of headscarf on his head and his hair is everywhere but he pulls it off. He also pulls of those tight skinny jeans he’s wearing too. Louis needs to stop staring. He looks comfy and relaxed, which makes Louis feel better. He just needs to relax. He should have gotten high before he came to take the edge off.

“You all set?” Louis asks and Harry nods as he leads him to the passenger side and opens the door for him and everything.

Harry giggles a bit and says thanks and Louis blushes slightly, thinking he’s over doing it. He’s definitely over doing it and when was the last time Louis fucking Tomlinson blushed? He’s usually making all the boys blush, not the other way around.

He walks around front of the SUV and gets in the driver’s seat. Just as he’s about to start the vehicle up and be on the way, he looks over at Harry and he’s frowning now. He doesn’t like that.

Louis decides to ask about it. “Is something wrong?” Harry jerks his head towards Louis’ voice. “Did I do something?” He shouldn’t even care. He’s not out on this date with Harry for his own enjoyment and he has to keep telling himself that. It’s just a job.

Harry shakes his head and looks sorry. “No, it’s not you. But I should get something out there otherwise I’ll be pretending to listen to you all night when really I’m thinking about something else.”

Louis’ stomach twists in knots. He knows what’s about to come. He just says okay and prompts Harry to continue talking.

Harry sighs, looks down at his hands for a second folded in his lap and just starts talking. “I work at a bank and uh… last week it was robbed. Three men came barging in and made me the open the vault. They also took me as a hostage.” He’s looking right at Louis and Louis feels like Harry can see right through him, but he’s good at acting and he knows has hasn’t blown his cover yet.

Louis nods to let Harry know he can keep talking. “They blindfold me, drove me around.” He tears up but he doesn’t breakdown and Louis thinks he’s incredibly strong for that. But fuck, the guilt he feels at this very moment. “And then they stopped and let me out over by the beach and…” He trails off for a second. He looks outside the window and Louis just gives him a moment. His heart is beating right out of his chest. He didn’t think Harry would open up to him like this so soon.

He finally turns his head back around and blinks a couple of times. His eyes are still watery. “One of the guys… told me to walk until I felt the water on my toes.” Harry laughs breathlessly and smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “It was the longest walk of my life. I kept thinking I’d step off a cliff. And then… I felt the water.” He shrugs.

“I’m sorry.” That’s all Louis can say. There’s a feeling inside of his chest that he can’t describe and he starts to feel bile rise in his throat.

“It’s not your fault,” Harry says sincerely. Louis snorts. If he only fucking knew.

“Anyway,” Harry keeps talking. “The FBI guy said I could experience slight PSTD after something like this. So I apologize in advance if I’m a little jumpy tonight.”

FBI. Louis thinks this couldn’t get any worse. His adrenaline spikes and feels himself start to sweat but he can’t let Harry see how all of this is affecting him. Unfortunately now is the perfect opportunity to get information out of him since he opened up so quickly.

“FBI?” Louis questions. “So you’re working with the FBI?” He tries to sound nonchalant about it.

“Pretty much, yeah. They seem determined to catch these men because apparently it’s not their first robbery.”

“Do they have any suspects?” Louis has to know if they’re onto his crew yet… and if they are his friends need to be warned.

“No, not that I’ve been told.” Louis nods his head. And then Harry says something that sends chills down his spine and not in a good way.

“I’m sure I’d recognize their voices if I heard them again. They were wearing masks so their voices are the only thing I can go by. And one guy had a tattoo on the back of his neck that looked like a feather.”

_Zayn. Zayn. Zayn. He has the feather tattoo,_ Louis thinks. Fuck. He’s fucked. Also he doesn’t really want to speak anymore at all tonight because what if in the middle of dinner Harry fucking recognizes his voice and calls the police right then and there?

Harry starts speaking again. “I’m sorry to mention all this to you but it’s been on my mind ever since it happened and it’s been dragging me down a bit. It’ll be nice to get out, though.” Harry smiles at him and Louis wants to bang his head off the steering wheel.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re fine. We’ll have a good time tonight,” Louis says as he starts the SUV. He means it, he really does. Or he wants to, anyway.

The ride to the restaurant is relaxing as they don’t talk much and the radio is playing as background noise. Harry doesn’t seem to mind and Louis’ heart rate has gone down significantly.

When Louis pulls into the parking lot Harry speaks up for the first time since they left. “Oh, I’ve been meaning to go here! I’ve heard this restaurant has great Italian food.”

Louis parks the Tahoe and smiles. “Yeah, Rose, she’s amazing-” He falters a bit. “She’s the owner and I’ve known her since I was a kid. I consider her family.” He shrugs. “I just love eating here and I figured you would too. I know it’s nothing fancy…” He trails off.

Harry smiles sincerely. “No, it’s perfect.”

Louis’ eyebrows shoot up. “Yeah?” Harry nods.

“Okay, let’s go inside. I’m pretty hungry and you were right about them having amazing Italian dishes.”

They step out of the vehicle and walk up to the front door. The atmosphere in the restaurant is what it usually is on a Wednesday night. There’s a bar to the right with a couple people sitting there, casually watching the TV’s above. One has the news playing on it, a Red Sox game on the other.

And then straight back there’s a dining area, where it’s only about half full. Some couples, some families with children, all chatting idly and eating at the same time.

An excited voice booms through the room. “Louis!” _Rose._

Louis immediately looks to his right where Rose has just come out of the kitchen carrying some boxes. She sets them down on the end of the bar where it’s not occupied. Rose is an older woman, mid 50’s probably, but Louis would never dare ask. Her brown, slightly graying hair is in a pony tail and it sways back and forth and she’s walking toward Louis with open arms.

“I hadn’t seen you in a few weeks and I was wondering when you’d come and visit again!” She wraps her arms around him and squeezes. Louis laughs and melts into the hug. He’s missed her. He’s kind of always considered her his mum.

“Oh you know me… I’m always around. Never far.” They separate and she looks at him like she’s about to scold him.

“You are staying out of trouble, right?” She asks as she crosses her arms over her chest and takes on a motherly stance. Rose knows to an extent what he does. He knows she worries about him though and that’s why she’s asking.

Louis sighs. “Of course.”

She uncrosses her arms. “Good.” She looks over to Harry who is still standing a couple feet away from Louis, hanging back watching their whole exchange. He looks slightly endeared by it all.

Rose smacks Louis on the arm. “We’re both being incredibly rude! Who is this?” She smiles as she turns her body toward Harry.

Louis turns to him. “Oh shit, I’m sorry! Rose, this is Harry. Harry, this is Rose. Who I just told you about a couple minutes ago.”

They both hold out their hands to shake at the same time to shake but Rose speaks up first. “I hope you’ve only heard good things about me. But Louis tends to trash talk once in awhile.” They both laugh, the tension dissipating from them.

“All good things, I promise,” he says as hey finish shaking hands. “Louis did tell me you own the place and I’m very excited to eat here.” Harry hates small talk but he tries his best.

Rose looks at the both of them and smiles. “I have the perfect place for you guys to eat. Follow me!”

“Rose…” Louis groans because he knows exactly what she’s talking about.

He looks back at Harry who looks a little confused and it’s quite adorable. He holds out his hand. “We better follow her or she’ll have my head.”

Harry takes his hand and Louis leads him through the dining room in and around the sea of people. They seem to be too interested in chatting away to even notice the two of them walking all the way to the back of the room and when they finally get to Rose she’s opening the patio door to a back deck of some sort.

They walk out onto the deck and there are a few tables and there are Christmas lights hanging on the railings of the deck and it’s… romantic. They both let go of each other’s hands at the same time and Louis hopes he didn’t make it too awkward, but he looks at Harry but he’s smiling and looking around like he’s impressed. Louis guesses that’s a good sign.

Rose is still inside of the building but she’s standing in the door way. “I figured you two could eat out here. It’s actually quite warm tonight.” She smiles at Louis and he’s looks right at her like she’s definitely going to hear about this one next time he sees her.

She clasps her hands together. “Sit anywhere. I’ll send a waiter out here to take your order. What do you want to drink boys?”

“Well, I’ll have a beer,” Louis says and then looks to Harry. He smiles at Rose and says, “Water’s fine, thank you.”

She smiles, nods and closes the patio door.

Louis releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’m sorry about that. She’s always trying to embarrass me.” He laughs a bit. “She’s like my mother.”

Harry has a big smile on his face. “No, it’s fine. I quite like her.” A few moments pass. “But she’s not actually your mother?”

Louis shakes his head. “No.” He coughs into his fist. He doesn’t like talking about his mother. “She was my mum’s best friend though and that’s how I know her.”

“Oh,” is all Harry says. Then, “Can we sit down?”

Louis blushes. “Of course, sorry.” They both sit down at the nearest table, across from each other.

Harry looks completely relaxed; he’s just looking around and admiring the view. But now Louis is starting to get fidgety. He doesn’t do dates usually, doesn’t care enough or doesn’t have time. He needs another cigarette. He pulls out his lighter and his pack of cigarettes out of his front pocket.

Harry doesn’t look like the type that smokes though so he figures he better ask him if it’s alright. “Do you mind if I have a smoke?”

He shakes his head. “No, not at all.”

Louis pulls a cigarette out, lights it and takes a drag. He turns his head to the left to blow out the smoke, trying not to blow it anywhere near Harry.

“I’ve been meaning to quit actually, but it’s hard.”

Harry shrugs. “We all have bad habits.”

He plays with his hands in his lap but looks at Louis and speaks up again. “I hate small talk just as much as the next person, but tell me a little bit about you. Where do you work? I mean, you already know what I do.” He laughs.

Yeah, he does because he was the one who helped take him hostage less than a week ago. Louis flicks the ash of his cigarette into the ashtray. “There’s not too much to know about me.” He decides to just put the cigarette out. It’s not even helping. He sucks it up and puts on a fake smile for Harry and answers the rest of his question.

“I co-own the flower shop over on 78th Street, if you know where that is.”

Harry’s smile brightens. “I do, actually. It’s not too far from here, is it?”

Louis nods his head. “No, it’s not far. I live in the apartment above it too so I never have to go far for work.” He laughs. “Lucky me.”

“You are lucky. The bank I work at is all over on the other side of town.” Harry shifts in his chair. “Anyway, you own a flower shop. Interesting choice… You just don’t look like the type.” Harry blushes a bit because he can’t believe that just came out of his mouth. “No offense or anything, I’m sor—”

Louis cuts him off by laughing. “Don’t worry about it, you’re right. I definitely don’t look the type but the shop was actually inherited to me. I was deemed co-owner when my grandparents died a couple of years ago. It’s not my dream job or anything but I enjoy it.”

Harry looks genuinely interested. “Well, that’s good. You should always enjoy your job.”

Before they can say anything else their waiter comes out and takes their orders. They make more small talk while they’re waiting for their food each of them occasionally sipping on their drinks in between speaking.

Louis learns that Harry likes to talk with his hands. He almost spilled his glass of water twice because his hands were flying everywhere while he talked. He blushes a lot and his eyes light up when he talks about something he loves. He also learns Harry has one sister named Gemma, and his best friend is Irish. So that’s the guy he saw Harry with this past weekend, Louis thinks.

Louis can literally feel himself falling deeper and deeper into the hole he’s dug for himself.

And while he’s sitting there listening to Harry talk, he studies his features. Louis likes to do that with people when he has the time. Harry’s eyes are so green and they match his dark green jumper. He looks at the other features on his face too. His nose, which is big but Louis kind of just wants to kiss it. Then his lips, which Louis also wants to kiss. They’re pink and wet from Harry biting and licking at them all night. He assumes it’s some type of nervous habit because he does it so often. It doesn’t bug him though. He truly looks beautiful under the night sky and these shining lights.

They finish their food and push their plates aside but Louis isn’t ready to leave yet. As much as he hates lying to this boy, he doesn’t want the night to end.

“So…” Harry says.

“Hm?” Louis perks up.

“I was just thinking…” Harry puts his hand underneath his chin and it looks like he’s deep in thought. “When I met you at the laundromat, you weren’t doing any laundry. So what were you doing there?”

Louis almost spits out the beer he just put in his mouth, but he swallows without choking on it. He has to think of an excuse quickly or he’s screwed.

He sets his beer bottle down and smiles. “Oh, I hangout there to pick up beautiful boys like you.”

Harry just rolls his eyes, trying to hide his smile. “I’m serious.”

Louis smiles fades slowly. That didn’t work and he better think of something better within the next few seconds. He thinks of something and decides to just go with it.

“Do you ever get lonely?” He asks Harry.

Harry’s eyebrows scrunch together as he looks at Louis. “I mean, yeah. I live with my cat. I definitely know what it’s like to be lonely.”

“Well, I get lonely a lot. I mean, I have friends but sometimes even when you have friends they’re not enough, at least for me. They should be but sometimes they aren’t and when they aren’t… I like to sit in public places and hangout for a bit.” Louis blushes. He’s actually somewhat telling the truth about this.

“It might sound weird, but sometimes it helps me. Feel less lonely. I don’t even have to be talking to anyone. I can just sit there, with other people, and I won’t feel alone anymore.” He finally looks up at Harry, who has tipped his head to the side a bit and looks like he understands what Louis means. "So that's what I was doing there."

“I understand,” is all Harry says.

Louis decides he wants to change the subject so he does. “I never asked you where you were from. You haven’t lived in Charlestown your whole life, have you?”

Harry laughs. “No. I only moved here a little over a year ago. From London.”

“Ooooh, London.” He takes another drink of his beer. It’s starting to get warm. “Why?”

Harry tenses up and Louis visibly sees that so he says, “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

He shakes his head. “It’s alright.” He takes a few more moments before he starts speaking again. “I wouldn’t say I’m running from someone, but I needed to get away. My last boyfriend was verbally abusive towards me and it took a toll on my life. I finally got the courage to leave, and Niall helped a lot. So did Gemma and my mum but Niall gave me a place to stay here until I could get settled.”

Louis feels bad for asking why. “I’m sorry for brining that up.”

Harry smiles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m a little blunt when it comes to that but I don’t hide it when someone asks about my past relationships. It’s made me a strong person in a way, so…” he trails off, beginning to yawn.

Louis pulls out his phone to look at the time. “I should get you home. It’s probably past your bedtime,” he says teasingly.

“Oh hush, old man.”

“Old man?! I’m not much older than you.” Louis laughs and then sighs. “Let’s get you home, sleepy.”

Harry stands up, stretches and his jumper lifts up a bit in the process to reveal tattoos on both sides of his hips. Louis thinks they look like leaves. He also quickly realizes that he has the cutest love handles he’d love to leave marks and bruises on. The thought goes straight to his dick. He tries his best to ignore it.

“You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Harry walks in front of Louis and he has his hand on Harry’s lower back. He doesn’t seem to mind. They both wave to Rose as they exit.

They drive back to Harry’s apartment is quick but Harry still falls asleep. Louis has to shake him awake when he gets there.

“We’re here.”

Harry yawns more. “I’m sorry for falling asleep. It’s like a five minute drive. I’m just knackered.”

“No problem.” Louis looks around the vehicle, awkwardly. He doesn’t know what to do. Should he ask him out again? Or does he tell him he had a good time tonight? Should he kiss him? Should he do all three? He kind of wants to. His thoughts are interrupted by Harry though.

“I did have a nice time and I wouldn’t mind seeing you again, if you’re up for it.”

His heart aches a bit. Of course he’s up for it, but he’s put himself and Harry in such an awful situation. He knows he shouldn’t see him again, but in this very moment he can’t bring himself to care.

“Of course I’m up for it.”

“Alright, good.” Harry waits a few more moments before he opens up the door and steps out. He smiles at Louis sleepily. “Goodnight.”

He smiles back. “Night.”

He shuts the door and starts walking up to the entrance of his apartment. Fuck, Louis wanted to kiss him but it was probably a bad idea anyway. He looks out the window at Harry. He's reached the steps now.

Louis makes a sporadic decision to get out of the car and yell Harry’s name. “Harry, wait!”

He’s halfway up the steps, but turns around with a smile on his face. “Yeah?”

Fuck. Now Louis’ at a loss for words. “I—”

Harry sees his internal struggle. He walks down two steps and he’s looking at Louis with a mischievous smile on his face. “If you want to kiss me, get over here and do it.”

Louis licks his lips and thinks, _challenge accepted._ He smiles as he walks to Harry and he’s no longer on the steps, just on the pavement, waiting.

And suddenly, he’s there so close to Harry. They look into each other’s eyes and laugh a bit before Louis takes his right hand and lift it up to Harry’s face, Louis rubbing his thumb over his cheekbone. God Harry’s starting to blush, he can feel his face warm up as each second goes by.

Louis leans in and hip lips hover over Harry’s, waiting for Harry to make the rest of the move. And when he finally does, it’s so gentle but it hurts at the same time because he knows nothing good will come out of this.

They both giggle through their kisses and then press their foreheads together and Louis doesn’t understand it. Why he feels this way about something he just met. It terrifies him. He steps back though, and says, “Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Louis.”

And he turns around, gets in his car and drives home trying not to think about how utterly fucked he is.


	4. The Task Force

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All mistakes are my own since I have no beta, so I apologize beforehand! This is the longest chapter I've written and it took forever to finally get it the way I wanted and I'm still not sure if I like it. If you give feedback, please be kind. This is my first fic! <3

On the other side of town, Simon and his men are closing in on Louis and his crew. He knows they were the ones that did it; he just needs to find enough evidence to be able to make an arrest. And sometimes when you work in this field, that’s the most hard and frustrating part about it all.

Finding the right people to take into custody and interview, see if they know anything. Breaking down the walls of the weak, get them to confess that they do in fact know a little something. Each small detail leads into the other, and eventually he gets to the end and he’ll win. But he knows Louis and his friends will put up a fight. Because it’s not just Louis he’s going after. Louis works for Al, ‘The Florist’, a nickname he picked up over time, and Al, works for the mob. Simon doesn’t have enough connections yet to take down the whole mob, but he’ll just have to settle for Louis, his crew, and Al.

He sighs as he puts his head in his hands. He’s got a meeting in less than an hour to present everything he has to his task force, to build the case. He doesn’t have much and it’s exhausting. He’s tired of the dead ends.

A few moments later he hears Henry’s voice as he’s rushing down the hall into Simon’s office. “You’re never gonna believe what I just fuckin found!” He can hear the smile in his voice. Simon’s stomach drops, hoping it’s the break they need, the lead to further the investigation.

Henry McGill is his partner on the case. When Simon was transferred here, they were paired up. Simon doesn’t mind him. He’s a tall, relatively thin man but he’s smart, tactile, and he knows all the ins and outs of cases like this. He's also very familiar with the people involved with these specific robberies.

Henry finally reaches his office and slams a manila folder onto Simon’s desk. “Open it.”

Simon does and Henry starts telling him what’s he’s looking at.

“Ben Winston. Works for Vericom. Never seen the inside of a jail cell. Most of these guys, who work these bank jobs, have no-show jobs in their normal life. They take down a money truck on the side, and their boss at their other job says, ‘“Yeah, he was here yesterday at work.”’ Then he shows us a forged time card. There’s multiple ways at cheating the system like that.”

Henry smiles and continues. “But, in this case it’s a little different. They can’t play those games at Vericom because it’s a public company. If you don’t show up, it’s a recorded sick day. And little Benny here, has some interesting sick days.”

He reaches down and turns a couple pages in the file for Simon to see. “Bank Boston, Cummins Armored, Arlington Brinks and Cambridge Merchants. These are all the banks we’ve suspected them of robbing. This is our break, Simon.” He slaps him on the back and turns to leave the office. “Get ready for the meeting in an hour, you’ve got some new stuff to prepare to present!”

Simon sighs, but happily. “Jesus Christ,” he whispers while still flicking through the file on Ben. This is it. He’s getting closer.

* * *

 

A little over a hour later, Simon feels like he’s got everything ready to present. He walks into the debriefing room and Henry already has most of everything set up for him, the PowerPoint and everything. He walks over to Henry and whispers, “Thanks.” He just shrugs and that’s that.

Simon looks to the fifteen people sitting around a huge table and starts talking. “I’ll be throwing a lot of names and information at you today, so try you best to keep up. Take notes, I suppose. If you need to.”

He turns to Henry and he nods, because he’s ready to begin. “Also, one more thing before I start.” Everyone’s heads perk up and they’re listening. “This is a really important case and we can’t afford to lose any more time on it than we already have. They guys are the A team of bank robbers, and we need to catch them.” Everyone just nods.

He opens the first slide and it’s a picture of Ben Winston. Not a mug shot, but a casual photo of him out in public. It looks like a paparazzi photo but it isn’t. Simon had some agents go into the neighbor hood and follow all the suspects around and take pictures of them.

“Ben Winston. Systems tech at Vericom. Thirty-three years old. Since he works at Vericom we believe he’s the one that is messing with the alarms for the vaults in the banks. They aren’t going off when they’re supposed to, when there’s a distress call.”

Next slide. “Nick Grimshaw. Thirty years old.” It’s a mug shot of a guy whose hair is in a total mess and looks like he spent the night in jail going through a withdrawl. “Mr. Grimshaw never met a car he couldn’t boost. He’s the kind of talented individual that can start your car for you while you’re still looking for the keys.”

Next slide. “Zayn Malik and Liam Payne, both twenty four years old. They’re a couple and we don’t know much about Liam, but that Zayn has been arrested multiple times on misdemeanors. Nothing too serious.”

Henry speaks up. “These guys plan and execute with sophistication and discipline. And that is not Zayn and Liam here. We think the architect guy is Louis Tomlinson.”

Simon clicks the remote for the next slide to turn over and it’s Louis. A mug shot of him when he was about nineteen.

“He has a connection with Al Mascone. Louis’ grandparents left their flower shop to him and Al. Al picking up the nickname, The Florist. Now, Al has higher connections… but we’re not authorized to go any further into it.”

The next slide is of Al. He’s a rough looking guy, and everyone is intimidated by him. Simon isn’t though, he’s just ready to take him down.

“Al, with his higher connections…” Simon slightly rolls his eyes. “Used to employ Tomlinson’s father, Troy.” He clicks the remote and a mug shot of Troy appears.

Henry speaks up. “You need a fuckin Venn-diagram for these people.” Everyone laughs. It seems fake but the tension dissipates. Simon moves on.

“Troy got life in prison for a job he did back when Louis was about eleven. He high jacked an armored money truck truck up to New Hampshire, one of the guards saw his face, so he and other guy executed them both with their own guns.” The room gets eerily quiet.

“Back to Louis… When he was nineteen he did eight months for going over the counter at Bay Bank with a nail gun after he washed out from pro-hockey.”

A woman in the back speaks up. “Pro-hockey?”

Simon looks to Henry and it’s the cue that he wants him to speak because he in fact doesn’t know much about the subject of Louis’ fall from stardom.

Henry clears his throat. “Yeah, he was a big deal for a minute. Got drafted right out of high school, went to camp, but here’s the kicker— started makin trouble, fightin with the guys…” He trails off and the same woman speaks again.

“Don’t they pay you to fight in hockey?”

Henry laughs. “Not the guys on your own team.” Everyone in the rooms laughs again.

Simon starts speaking again. “Tomlinson came home, got into the family business. Same old, same old.” He turns to the desk behind him and picks up a few more papers. “Now, we’re a long way away from a grand jury and we’ll never get twenty-four surveillance of their homes, so we build the case.”

* * *

 

Louis wakes up, hungover again. This time he’s in his bed and not the couch. But Liam is standing over him looking like a pissed off father. Probably because he sees the empty bottle of vodka on Louis’ nightstand.

“It’s too early for this, Liam,” he grumbles and turns away from him to face the wall. His entire head is throbbing and he needs Liam to stop staring at him.

“I came up to ask about the date you shouldn’t have gone on. It was supposed to be two days ago and I haven’t heard from you since.” He sighs and sits down on the edge of his bed. “And then I saw another bottle of empty vodka on the nightstand, and of course I’m pissed.”

Louis doesn’t move or say anything so Liam keeps talking. “Look, you’re a big boy and despite how I act sometimes…” He trails off and laughs. “I’m not your dad. I can’t tell you what do to.” A few more seconds of silence go by. “I just worry about you.”

Louis huffs out, “Well don’t bother. I’m fine.”

Liam just drops it. He can’t bug Louis about this forever. He decides to bug him about something else though. He nudges Louis’ back. “So how did the other night go?”

A few moments pass but Louis finally turns around and he looks like hell. Also looks like he might cry but Liam doesn’t say anything.

“It was nice. He’s nice.” He starts picking at a string coming out of his comforter. “It’s why I’m drinking. I put myself, him and all of you in a really bad position by going out with him. By liking him.” Louis looks up with sad eyes and Liam whines.

“Lou, stop. This can’t go any further.”

Louis sits up and yells. “You think I don’t know that?!” He regrets yelling instantly because his head pounds harder from it.

“You’re going to hate me even more when you find out he has been talking with the FBI and he saw the tattoo on the back of Zayn’s neck the day of the robbery.”

Liam puts his head in his hands. “Jesus Christ, Louis.”

The front door of the apartment opens and it’s Zayn. He walks into Louis’ room. “What the hell is goin on in here? Smells like someone died.” He takes a look around.

Liam laughs. “That would be Lou over here. He needs a shower."

That’s Louis’ cue to get up and take one. He doesn’t want to face Zayn.

“Yeah, it’s probably a good idea I take one.” He lifts up the covers to his bed as Liam stands up. Louis’ still got his boxers on so he doesn’t mind. “But you two get on with your day, don’t let me stop you.”

He walks over to his dresser grabs a t-shirt, he doesn’t even care what one and a pair of clean underwear and some jeans.

Zayn says, “Nah, we’ll wait for ya. Gotta talk to you anyway. About the next job.”

The next job? Louis doesn’t want another job. He feels sick but he just nods at Zayn and walks to the bathroom. Once he’s inside he shuts the door and he can finally feel himself breathe for what feels like the first time since he woke up.

He jumps in the shower washing his hair and then body. His dick is hard, it always is in the mornings but he doesn’t feel like jacking off. He’s too anxious. He knows it won’t help and he’ll just feel disgusting afterward.

He dries himself off and gets dressed. After throwing his dirty clothes in the hamper he walks out into the kitchen where Zayn and Liam are sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea.

“Do you want a cup?” Liam offers him.

“No.”

He’s about to sit down at the table when he hears his phone go off in his bedroom.

“I’m gonna go grab that real quick,” He tells Zayn and Zayn looks at him funny and just shakes his head. “Hurry up!”

Louis grabs his phone and it’s from Harry.

_I’m at the community garden volunteering, picking weeds. Ya know, the fun stuff. Was wondering what you were up to and if you wanted to keep me company._

Shit, he thinks. He should ignore the text but he doesn’t.

**Sure I’ll be there in thirty minutes.**

He turns his phone off, walks back into his kitchen and sits next to Zayn.

“Anyway, you were saying something about our next job…”

“Yeah, Al’s setting it up soon…” Zayn keeps talking but Louis doesn’t listen. He zones out and nods every few seconds, pretending he’s listening to please Zayn. In all reality he couldn’t give a fuck about the next job, or the one after that. He wants out. But it’s not that simple and he has obligations.

“Does that sound good?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, sure.” Louis says. He doesn’t know what he just agreed to but he’s starting to bounce his leg up and down underneath the table because he wants to get out of here so bad.

“So who texted you?” Zayn’s curious, and absolutely not stupid.

“Huh? Just a couple of minutes ago, you mean?” Zayn nods his head.

“Oh, it was Calvin. He asked if I wanted to stop by the rink and hangout or something,” Louis says nonchalantly. Zayn usually knows when he’s lying about something. He doesn’t seem to catch it though which Louis is thankful for because Zayn just shrugs. Liam isn’t even looking at him because Zayn knows when’s lying or hiding something too.

“Well, I’m gonna go do that. Hangout. With Calvin.” He stands up and heads to his room to grab his pack of cigarettes.

Zayn just laughs when he comes back into the kitchen. “Why are you being so weird? Do you like him or something?”

Louis blushes. “Calvin?! God Zayn— no. Just no.” But Zayn’s onto him and knows that Louis likes somebody, he just hasn’t guessed who yet.

Zayn holds up his hands and laughs. “Fine, if you say so.” He stands up and so does Liam. They make their way back downstairs and Louis’ by himself. He decides to go outside and sit on the fire escape and smoke a cigarette before he leaves to go see Harry. _Harry._ Why didn’t he ignore the text? Oh, that’s right, because he’s stupid.

He’s about to take another drag on his cigarette but it slips out of his fingers before it reaches his mouth. He looks down and watches the cigarette fall all the way down to the pavement. When it hits the ground, little red and orange embers ricochet all over and for a second he thinks it would look much prettier if that had been done when it was dark outside.

He looks up at the sky and it’s a cloudy day. Windy and chilly too. He stands up, goes inside and grabs his denim jacket and he’s on his way to meet Harry.

He passes Zayn and Liam again downstairs talking with Al but he just waves and exits the shop. He doesn’t want to see them anymore today.

The walk there is nice, but Louis’ alone with his thoughts and sometimes that’s not a good thing. He thinks about what it would be like if his life we were different. If he had a normal one where he met Harry in some cliché place like the fucking grocery store. He thinks of a life he wishes he had where he doesn’t rob banks and take hostages and fall in love with them.

There’s that phrase. Falling in love. Is he really falling for Harry that fast? His entire body warms at the thought of him. Yeah, it’s possible but he doesn’t want it to be. This is the last thing he wanted.

Before he knows it here’s there and he can Harry on his knees in the garden surrounded by weeds, pulling them. He’s got his hair in a bun but little pieces are falling out of it and he’s got a grumpy look on his face. Louis laughs and watches him for a few more minutes before making his presence known.

He feels like he could watch Harry forever. Even if it’s just him doing the most trivial things, like weeding. Or cleaning.

“Hey you.” Louis says. Harry looks up at him and laughs, still pulling on the weeds.

“Hi. Thanks for coming. I was getting a little bored here by myself.” He stops though and stands up and dusts the dirt off his knees. He pulls of his gloves and walks over to a backpack where he grabs a water bottle and takes a drink. “You thirsty? He asks.

“I’m good, thank you though.” Louis says. “Hey, it’s Friday. Aren’t you supposed to be working?” He teases.

“I should be, yeah. But I called in sick. Ever since the robbery I’ve just been dreading to go. I hate it there now.”

That’s all Louis’ fault. Fuck. “I don’t blame you.”

Harry goes back to weeding with Louis watching and the conversations flows pretty easily. Loius’ never found anyone he can just sit and talk to for hours. Until Harry.

Harry talks a bit more about his family and how his mum is getting married in a few weeks. Louis supposes that’s how the subject of his parents get brought up again.

“So what about your dad? Does he still live in Charlestown?” He asks curiously.

“Nah, he finally made it out to the suburbs.” Yeah, in the state penitentiary not far from here.

Harry chuckles. “And your mother? I mean I know— I know you already talked about her a bit at dinner the other night and I don’t mean to pry—”

Louis interrupts him and smiles. “It’s fine.” He waits a few more moments. “She left when I was six.”

Harry keeps weeding but finally looks up. “Oh, okay. I’m sorry.” He looks back down, not knowing what to say.

Louis sighs. He doesn’t know why he opens his mouth back up, but he feels like he can tell Harry anything. He feels comfortable enough with him to share this little sad piece of his life. So he does.

“The sound woke me up. At first I didn’t know what it was… Because I had never heard a man cry before, let alone my dad.” Harry gives him a small smile, as if he’s thanking him for sharing this with him.

“I came down stairs in my underwear and I saw my father in the kitchen. He stopped crying and moved into the living room to watch TV. I just think he didn’t know what else to do. And without looking at me he said, ‘Your mother left and she’s not comin back.’ Just like that.”

Harry’s just staring, listening. So Louis keeps talking. “We lost our dog the year before and uh… I wanted to make these posters. In case my mum was lost.” He chuckles and smiles as if he realizes it was a stupid and childish thing to do at the time. “Ya know, someone could call us, like the guy who found our dog.” He clears his throat because it’s getting tight and there’s a lump in it.

“To this day my father will tell you he helped me make those posters, but he didn’t. He sat in the kitchen and drank a case of beer while I went out by myself up on School Street askin people if they had seen my mum.”

Thank God Harry doesn’t look at him pitifully. Because if he did Louis might just have to leave. He’s never told anyone this story before but he continues.

“Her name was Jay. Short for Johanna.” Louis smiles just by saying her name. “My grandmum had a place in Tangerine, Florida. So I used to imagine maybe that’s where she went. Then I came to terms with the fact that it doesn’t really matter, ya know?”

Harry has stopped weeding completely.

“Wherever she went, she had a good reason to leave here. She didn’t wanna be my mum anymore and she wasn’t coming back.” He shrugs and acts like he doesn’t care but it still haunts him.

“And now you know a little bit about my family.”

Harry takes off his gloves and stands up, brushing off his knees again. He kneels down in front of Louis and looks at him for a second.

Louis giggles and tips his head to the side. “What?”

“Nothing— just. Can I kiss you?”

“You don’t have to ask,” Louis says breathlessly. And with that their lips meet in a frenzy of small little pecks that they both laugh through together. Louis’ hand trails over Harry’s side and up his arm and finally reaches his face where Louis rubs him thumb alongside of his cheekbone.

Louis thinks he could probably kiss Harry for the rest of his life and he would be completely happy with it. Each kiss brings Louis deeper and deeper, spiraling out of control. He feels dizzy with it. Their foreheads finally meet and they just sit there and breathe for a second.

Harry leans back into his own space though and his lips are red. From Louis, he did that to him.

“If you want, we can go back to mine and I can make us something to eat for lunch. I’m starving.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, that sounds perfect.”

Harry gathers up his things and put them in his backpack. He throws it over his shoulder and waves for Louis to follow him, so he does.

The walk to his apartment is quiet. They don’t talk but they hold hands and lean into each other. It’s comfortable, and just for a small second Louis forgets about the mess he’s created for the both of them. Harry helps him forget about all the bad stuff, and maybe that’s the reason he likes being around him so much. Harry makes him want to be a better person.

He sees the good in Harry and he wants that for himself. I mean, Harry called in sick today to help weed the community garden for fucks sake. And he also volunteers at the Boys and Girls club, which Louis just also found out today.

Harry’s a good person and he doesn’t deserve the hurt that Louis’ going to cause him.

“So what are you going to want to eat?” Harry asks as they’re making their way up the steps to Harry’s apartment door.

“Whatever you want,” Louis answers. Harry turns and says, “Alright,” as he unlocking his apartment door.

They step in and it’s just as Louis imagined it. It’s cute and it feels like a home. Unlike his shit apartment that only gets cleaned when Liam is over.

It’s small but he likes it. There’s a small dining table over to the right next to a big window that overlooks the street next to the building. The kitchen is still off to the right a bit, with an island in the middle. The living room is to the left and there’s a TV, a coffee table littered with some mail and other things. Louis looks past the area by the TV and he sees a doorway. It’s Harry’s bedroom. The door is halfway open and he can see the bed hasn’t been made.

His thoughts are interrupted when he feels something up against his leg. He looks down and sure enough, it’s a cat. A very gray one.

“That’s Shadow.” He meows and waltzes over to Harry and he picks him up and the cat nuzzles into his neck. Louis thinks it’s the cutest thing.

“He’s my baby,” Harry admits.

Louis smiles. “He’s cute.”

Harry sets him back down on the ground and Shadow ventures off into Harry’s bedroom.

“Does soup and grilled cheese sound okay? I guess I should go grocery shopping soon,” Harry says talking to himself out loud.

“You’re the one cooking, so make what you want. I’m not picky.” Harry just nods and tells Louis to make himself at home so he moves to the living room and walks around a bit looking at all the framed pictures, books and movies on the shelves.

Louis has always thought you can get to know a lot about a person by the movies they watch or the books they read. He pulls out a random book from the shelf and skims through it.

It must be minutes later and Harry’s calling his name, telling him lunch is ready. He closes the book and puts it back on the shelf and makes his way to the kitchen.

Everything is set neatly at the table, and it looks like he’s being served food at a nice restaurant. “Harry, you didn’t need to go all out,” he laughs. “I would have been fine eating off of a paper plate and plastic silverware.”

Harry giggles as he’s sitting down at the table. “Don’t be silly! I like cooking for other people and _going all out_ ,” mocking what Louis had said.

Louis just nods. “Well, I really appreciate it.” He just doesn’t remember the last time anyone has done something nice for him.

They mostly eat in silence. Harry occasionally asking a question and Louis complimenting him on his apartment. By the time Louis’ done, he’s full.

He gets up and rinses off his plate and bowl and puts them in the dishwasher. He hears Harry trailing behind him. He turns around before he gets too close.

“I’m sorry— can I use your bathroom?” He laughs. “I don’t know where it is.”

“Of course! It’s just through my room to the left.”

Louis nods and makes his way into Harry’s bedroom. The door is already half cracked open and he can see Shadow sleeping on Harry’s side of the unmade bed. The sheets probably smell like him and for some reason Louis thinks it’d probably be the best smell in the world.

Other than that he doesn’t pay too much attention to his room and he sees the door for the bathroom. He walks in, shuts the door and makes his way to the sink, leaning over it. He looks in the mirror for a few seconds and decides he looks like total shit.

His hair is a mess and he’s got bags under his eyes. He wonders why Harry even wants anything to do with him. Harry must know he’s a piece of crap.

He splashes water on his face and tells himself to get it together. Stop acting like this isn’t a job. Because that’s all it is. That’s all it’s supposed to be.

He walks back into the living room, trying to suppress a yawn. He feels like he could take a nap.

Harry’s sitting on the couch with a couple of blankets and he must have the same idea as Louis.

“I was just thinking we could watch a film or something— unless you have other things to do today...” Harry’s just sitting here with his hands in his lap, staring right up at Louis with his big doe eyes. How could he say no to that?

Louis laughs lightly. “Either way, I’d still rather be here with you.” Louis feels his face getting warm so he ducks his head down and sits down next to Harry on the couch.

“Do you care what we watch?” Harry asks.

“No, not at all.” Louis feels like this is an awkward first date. And it’s awkward for the specific reason that Louis doesn’t date. He doesn’t take boys out to dinner, he doesn’t let anyone make a nice meal for him, he doesn’t watch films and cuddle on the couch with boys, and he sure as hell doesn’t watch them volunteer to weed the fucking community garden. Unless, it’s Harry. Louis think he’s an exception to everything.

Their arms are pressed together and Louis can feel the heat radiating off of Harry as the film starts. He doesn’t even know what they’re watching and he doesn’t really care because he’s yawning and he thinks he’ll probably fall asleep in no time.

Just as he thinks he’s about to doze off Harry’s head is suddenly in his lap as he’s curled into a little ball.

This is what Louis adores about Harry in the short time he’s known him. He’s bold, but shy. He’s not just one thing, he’s a million and Louis thinks he can’t get any better than that.

He looks down at him and notices that his hair isn’t in a bun anymore. It’s down and completely laid down onto Louis’ lap. Just a mess of beautiful brown curls.

He lowers his hand in Harry’s hair and starts massaging his scalp and running his fingers through his curls. Harry absolutely hums with it. Louis keeps doing it for several minutes, and his hand is getting tired but he doesn’t want to stop because Harry is enjoying it so much.

He’s enjoying it so much that he lets out a moan and starts to nuzzle and rub his head into Louis’ crotch.

Harry’s moan was just loud enough for Louis to hear and it sends a shiver down his spine while the movement of Harry’s head makes Louis’ cock twitch inside of his jeans. He tenses up and tells himself to relax. Don't get hard, don't get hard, he thinks.

But the thing is, Harry keeps doing it and now he’s tracing little patterns onto Louis’ knee with his fingertips. He’s doing it on purpose; he’s trying to get Louis all riled up and it's working. Now that Louis' realized this his dick is rock hard and well…

“Harry…” Louis trails off and laughs a bit. “What’re you doin?”

He doesn’t answer Louis’ question. He just lifts his head up and smiles while making direct eye contact with Louis’ cock straining against his jeans.

His fingertips are now sliding up Louis’ leg, inching closer to the outline of Louis’ dick. And when Harry finally gets there his fingertips brush so lightly over his length that he wants more so he lifts his hips up slightly.

Harry looks up at Louis then and Louis realizes he probably looks so fucking desperate. Practically begging for more of Harry’s touch.

Harry finally breaks the silence. “Can I—“ He doesn’t even have to finish his sentence before Louis’ interrupting breathlessly.

“Please, Harry— God.”

He’s off the couch and on his knees in between Louis’ legs in a matter of seconds. Louis’ already is unbuttoning his jeans while Harry is pulling them down, underwear and all.

His cock springs free, leaking precome at the tip and before he realizes what’s actually about to happen, Harry’s hand is already giving him a few strokes. He stops and kisses the head which makes Louis giggle.

“Don’t tease.” Harry’s eyes flicker up towards him and a smile appears on his face. It’s mischievous and sexy and Louis thinks that his heart could beat right out of his chest at this very moment.

He does eventually stop teasing and takes Louis in his mouth, his tongue on the underside of his dick, hitting that certain spot that makes Louis’ hips lift off the couch. He doesn’t mean for it to happen but when he jerked up he slid all the way inside Harry’s mouth and for a second he thinks he might have choked him but he didn’t.

Harry just moans around his dick and keeps bobbing his head up and down.

“You like having your mouth fucked?” Louis asks as he’s gathering Harry’s hair to the back of his head, moving it out of his face.

He keeps sucking, ignoring Louis’ question. Louis tugs on Harry’s hair prompting him to answer. He stops sucking with a _pop,_ and looks up at Louis and smiles. His face is flushed, lips red, all wet from his spit. He looks beautiful like this.

“Yeah, I do,” He finally answers and takes Louis back into his mouth in one swift move that has Louis throwing his head back and hissing because it just feels so good. It’s been a long time since he’s received a good blow job.

“Well I’m gonna, okay? Fuck your mouth.”

Harry looks up at Louis and nods his head, giving him permission. He then stays still, with Louis’ cock halfway in his mouth, waiting for him to move.

Louis tightens the grip he has in Harry’s hair and lifts his hips up, slow and short thrusts at first. Trying to let him adjust to the movement. Not long after he’s moving a lot faster, and going deeper filling Harry’s mouth completely. His mouth is tight and hot around Louis, and he’s sucking just as hard as Louis’ moving. He’s moaning around Louis’ cock and it’s the best sound Louis’ ever heard.

And getting to physically watch himself fucking up into Harry’s mouth is making his orgasm approach much faster than it normally would.

“Harry— you are so…” He trails off as soon as he hits the back of his throat and Harry just holds himself there. Taking Louis in all the way, breathing heavily out of his nose. “Perfect. You’re fucking perfect.”

Louis stops thrusting his hips up as Harry’s going down and just lets him do what he wants to finish him off because Louis is so close.

He swirls the head of Louis’ cock in his mouth and that’s it, he can’t hold off much longer.

“I’m gonna come soon. I can’t—“

Harry interrupts him. “Come on my face.”

It’s not even a question. So Louis just does it. He wraps his hand around himself and moments later he’s coming so hard he thinks he blacks out. His toes curl and he watches himself shoot spurts of come onto Harry’s face.

Mostly it lands in his mouth where he had his tongue out, waiting to taste. He swallows it all.

Louis’ still coming down from his orgasm, panting, as he reaches down to Harry’s cheek and wipes a bit of come off his face with his thumb.

He slowly moves his thumb to Harry’s lips and rubs his come onto them. Harry smiles as his tongue darts out for another taste. He doesn’t get it all though and some dribbles down his lip.

Louis takes both hands, grabs Harry’s face and kisses him, tasting his own come in between their kisses. It’s filthy and dirty, but they don’t care.

Louis breaks the kiss so they can breathe. “Do you need me to— ya know?” He laughs.

Harry comes up off of his knees and sits down next to Louis on the couch.

“I kind of already came…” He looks down at the wet spot on the front of his jeans and blushes, suddenly getting very shy.

Louis pulls his jeans back up, buttoning them. He looks to Harry. “Please don’t be embarrassed about it. That’s actually… Amazing.”

Harry  just shrugs. “I guess I better change. I feel gross.” He laughs a bit. He stands up and disappears into his bedroom.

Louis’ still sitting on the couch when his phone rings. It’s Al. He can’t ignore it.

By the time Harry’s all cleaned up, he walks back into the living room where Louis’ wanting for him.

“I actually hate to leave like this, but I have to go. Flower emergency at the shop.”

Harry frowns at him, playfully. “Okay.”

Louis walks towards him and puts his hands in Harry’s. “I want to see you again, okay?”

Harry smiles and nods. “Okay.”

Their lips meet to kiss, but this time it’s different. It’s gentle, but it feels like it’s physically hurting Louis. He aches for a different ending that him and Harry are going to get. This beautiful boy, who is sweet and kind, who deserves the world… is going to get hurt. Louis knows this has no happy ending, yet he keeps leading Harry along, into nothing but a massive trap filled with heartbreak.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, hope you enjoyed it! If you want you can let me know what you think of my writing or the plot, but please be kind. Thank you! <3
> 
> I also hope there wasn't too many mistakes.


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